-MoO₃ Whiskers in ⁹⁹Mo/^99mTc Radioisotope Production and ⁹⁹Mo/^99mTc Extraction Using Hot Atoms

Illustration of ⁹⁹Mo/^99mTc radioisotopeproduction and ⁹⁹Mo/^99mTc extracted with waterunder a hot-atom mechanism in & beta;-MoO 3 whiskers. & beta;-MoO3 whiskers prepared by a thermalevaporationmethod and & alpha;-MoO3 particles were irradiated in anuclear reactor to produce Mo-99/Tc-99m radioisotopesvia neutron capture. The irradiated targets were then dispersed inwater to extract the Mo-99/Tc-99m isotopes. Ofthe Mo-99 formed in the & beta;-MoO3 whiskers,64.0 & PLUSMN; 7.4% was extracted with water; by contrast, only 8.8 & PLUSMN;2.6% of the Mo-99 formed in & alpha;-MoO3 wasextracted. By comparing these data to the Mo-98 concentrationdissolved in water, we confirmed the hot-atom effect on both & beta;-MoO3 whisker and & alpha;-MoO3 particle targets to transfer Mo-99 isotopes from irradiated samples to water. In addition,the & beta;-MoO3 whiskers exhibited a prominent hot-atomeffect to transfer a higher ratio of Mo-99 isotopes intowater. To the best of our knowledge, this research is the first demonstrationof & beta;-MoO3 being used as an irradiation target inthe neutron capture method. On the basis of the results, & beta;-MoO3 is considered a promising irradiation target for producing Mo-99/Tc-99m by neutron capture and using water forthe radioisotope extraction process in the future.